Archive for December, 2016

At Ringwood in Victoria, married couple Luke and Katrina Fisher share a unique perspective of tree management. Working in very different fields of Active Tree Services, they bring their own expertise to the Council contracts they oversee.

Far beyond the city limits of Sydney, scoper and notifier Shaun Hitchcock is “filling in the dots”, accessing the latest technology to mark where trees need trimming and vegetation is to be cleared beneath power lines.

Each day arborist Baijin Yu takes pride in making the city he loves just a little bit better. Working with Active Tree Services on the City of Sydney contract, his role varies from assessing and selecting trees to be pruned, to ground line trimming as he learns the finer points of arboriculture on the job.

In South Australia, Active Tree Services’ climber Gage Owen has no qualms about working at height and isn’t fazed by powerlines. But the looming shadow of a huntsman spider coming into view over the top of your work visor, well that takes a bit of getting used to, he says.

When you’re working 1.2m from 22,000 volt power lines, you’ve “got to keep your wits about you”. Nine days a fortnight Richard Crawford does just that in his role as an Elevating Work Platform (EWP) operator based out of Darwin.

For Sydneysider Mark Spiteri, his 11-year career with Active Tree Services has taken him to heights and sights he never dreamed of. Each day brings something new, whether it’s helping out in fire-ravaged regions, aerial tree work, or trekking into remote locations alongside goannas and kangaroos.

Overlooking her garden from a home office at Wauchope outside Port Macquarie is arguably one of Active Tree Services’ greatest assets. She is the voice at the end of the phone quietly getting things sorted, cross checking figures and tending to a massive payroll that sees over 460 employees all over Australia reliably paid each week.